


Escape the Night: Venomous Affections

by Dede42



Series: Escape the Night Season 3 [4]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Cards, F/M, Junga, Pictures, Snakes, venom - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28597623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dede42/pseuds/Dede42
Summary: It's time for the search to begin for the second artifact, but the group better be careful. For there's something scaly about this next one, and what will happen to group morale if two people died instead of just one?
Relationships: Esther Bourne/ Curtis Knight (OCs)
Series: Escape the Night Season 3 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916947
Comments: 34
Kudos: 3





	1. PROLOGUE: A POISONOUS WOMAN

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Yup, it's time to start the next episode. Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**PROLOGUE: A POISONOUS WOMAN**

*****

December 31, 1977…

It was New Year’s Eve in the town of Everlock, and while some were looking forward to the start of a new year, others had something else in mind altogether. But what they had in mind, it wasn’t going to be pleasant at all.

*****

Over at Fatman Slim’s, the local pub, a young woman with brown hair, brown eyes, and wearing a blue outfit with two gold bracelets, one of which was shaped like a snake, and a yellow flower-print scarf around her neck, was waiting for someone. Checking the time, she went to the payphone to make a phone call.

“It’s Cindy,” said Cindy when she reached an answering machine instead of the person she was waiting for. “Seeing if you’re still coming. It’s almost ten,” she added, glancing at the clock on the wall. “I didn’t want to call your house, so leaving a message at the office. Miss you.”

*****

Thirty minutes later, Cindy was still waiting and sitting at one of the booths, playing solitaire for the tenth time that night, and she glanced at a napkin that a waitress set down next to her, but without a drink. Curious, she lifted up the napkin and her face paled when she saw written on the underside in red lipstick, the word “ _WHORE!_ ”

Cindy slowly turned her head and saw two women glaring at her. Recognizing them as Bahar and her best friend Judy, she turned away, and it was clear of _why_ they were there. _‘Oh God,’_ she thought, slowly standing up and picking up her white fur coat. _‘They know! Bahar knows!’_

*****

Slipping out the back door, Cindy tried to escape down the alleyway, but before she could get away, both Bahar and Judy appeared, blocking her way, and they were _both_ pissed.

“Bitch, trying to sleep with my husband!” Bahar shouted, punching Cindy and knocking her to the ground. Soon she and Judy were punching and kicking the young woman repeatedly, making her cry out, and this went on for a full minute. If anyone did hear the cries and the shouts, they weren’t going to get involved.

Once the beating was done, Bahar crouched down, pulling something out of her coat pocket, and grabbed Cindy’s chin, forcing her to look at her. She revealed that she was holding a matchbook from the bar, which had written on it, “Meet me at 7:30. Cindy.” She’d found the matchbook in her husband’s jacket when he stopped at the house to clean up from work, and she’d locked him in the bathroom so that she could deal with this herself.

“Stay _away_ ,” she warned, pushing the injured woman onto the ground before straightening up, and she walked away with Judy.

Cindy rolled onto her side, coughing as she struggled to sit up, which wasn’t easy since she was certain that some of her ribs were either bruised or broken, and she could feel warm blood coming out of the cut on her mouth.

Unknown to her, blue/black smoke flew over her head and landed on the porch of the bar, where it transformed into a tall being that looked human with blue/grey skin, long black hair, curved brown horns growing from his forehead, and there was some kind of blue stone embedded in his chest. He wore only a long dark purple coat, black leather gloves, black pants, and knee-high black boots. His name was Nicolas, and he was known as the Carnival Master.

As Cindy finally sat up and was quietly crying, he approached her from behind and, crouching down next to her, spoke in a soft soothing voice as she turned to look at him. He had been drawn to her by the darkness in her heart. “I can give you anything you want.” He gently placed one gloved hand on her back and held out his other gloved hand, revealing two smooth brownish stones. “All you have to do is take my hand,” he added, slowly entrancing her as the blue stone in his chest glowed softly.

Falling under his dark spell, Cindy took the stones from his hand, and when they glowed blue, the evil magic flowed into her mouth, making her scream as it started transforming her from the inside out. The Carnival Master watched with pleasure as his newest lieutenant was created, and once the transformation was completed, he left to seek out others to corrupt with the remaining artifacts.

*****

In the bar, Bahar and Judy were having a smoke and some drinks at one of the booths near the entrance, and talking about Cindy, which they were laughing about. Little did they know, Cindy was coming back into the bar, covered by her fur coat so that they couldn’t see that she was _very_ different from before, and she was now seeking revenge.

“How did she think she was going to have that going?” Bahar scoffed while taking a sip of her drink.

“Yeah, I mean really?” Judy asked as the doors opened and the covered woman entered the bar. “She didn’t think you were gonna find out?”

“Absolute-” Bahar began, cracking open a peanut shell when her friend interrupted her.

“But she’s back for more,” Judy sneered as Cindy approached them.

Bahar sighed and faced the woman as she started to lift the coat from her head. “Bitch!” she snapped. “I told you-” She then screamed when she saw that Cindy had been transformed into a scaly green, semi-naked, and bald snake woman.

Judy also screamed when the Snake Woman grabbed Bahar and bite her on the neck, and she tried to stop the Snake Woman from killing her friend. The other patrons also screamed and fled the bar, too. Fearing for their lives and certain that it was too late for Bahar.

Judy kept trying to stop the Snake Woman, who released her victim, who slumped in the booth, wheezing in pain, and she attacked Judy next, but this time, she went in for the kill instead of just injuring her like she had done to Bahar.

She was the Snake Woman, and she was getting her revenge!


	2. CHAPTER ONE: A SPY AND HER CLUE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> All right, it's time to search for the next artifact. Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**CHAPTER ONE: A SPY AND HER CLUE**

*****

When Safiya returned to the lounge, she found her friends sitting on either the couch or the floor that was connected to the back of the couch, and as she sat down, she noted that some of them had taken off their coats and/or jackets, which allowed her to see the scar on Dawn’s right forearm.

_‘She said that when she, Andrea, and Tyler were rescued last year, that the insane woman had cut her on the arm with the intention of killing her next,’_ Safiya thought. Now, she _really_ wanted to believe that Joey and Dawn hadn’t known about the Carnival Master or the artifacts, given what they had been through the past two years of being kidnapped, twice, but she still _had_ to wonder if they were really telling the truth.

“So we don't have much to go off of," she said, holding the note from earlier, "besides _this._ So who do you guys think is lying?” And the group looked at each other, wondering who among them was the liar, and a few of them were considering Joey and Dawn.

“Well, we only know two people,” Joey remarked. “That's Calliope and Mortimer. So…” He shrugged and while he didn’t like to frame anyone, he was grateful that Mortimer and Calliope were available to keep his friends from suspecting him and Dawn… at least for now.

“How do we know _we_ can all be trusted?” Colleen questioned. “Maybe it's one of us.” She’d known Joey for a long time, and had become good friend with Dawn because of Joey. But she was starting to wonder if they really knew more then they were letting on, and she was going to keep a close eye on them both.

Joey, deciding to redirect the focus of the group, spoke to Teala. “Teala, how are you feeling, coming back from that challenge?”

“I agree with Colleen," Teala replied, still a bit shaken from both the challenge and seeing Jc die. "We obviously can't trust everybody. Somebody voted me in.”

“But do you think that it was rightfully so?” Nikita inquired, and this got some surprised looks from the other members of the group, especially from Teala herself.

Before anything else could be said, Calliope suddenly went up the steps past Joey and Dawn, surprising them, and went over to the map. Pulling it off its place on the wall, she carried it over and gave it to the group, who repositioned themselves as it was placed on the table, and they saw that there was stuff on the map that hadn’t been there before.

“Fat Man Slim’s is new on the map,” Safiya remarked, pointing to the new section on the map that was now showing some kind of pub, and there was a message written next to it.

“‘Beware of snakes’,” Joey read to the group. “‘The Serpent's Eyes lie in wait’.”

Both Joey and Dawn made faces, since if there was some kind of snake involved, they were going to have nightmares for a long while. Now, Dawn wasn’t scared of snakes, having held actual snakes on more then one occasion, but since this was probably some kind of monster, she _really_ didn’t want to go up against it. Joey, on the other hand, was scared of snakes and the thought of going up against some kind of snake monster was already sending chills down his spine.

Before anything else could be said, they noticed that there was a woman with long black hair, brown skin, and wearing a red outfit was peering through the doorway _directly_ at them! They didn’t know it, but this was Bahar, who was somehow still alive after having been bitten over 40 years ago.

“What?” three of the YouTubers exclaimed at once, spotting the possible spy.

“What the-?” Teala gasped.

Realizing that she’d been spotted, Bahar fled.

“Get her!” Calliope ordered, and the group bolted through the doorway and after the woman.“Quick!”

*****

The group chased Bahar through the arcade and around the pinball machines several times since she was moving fast.

“Oh, bitch, you ain't going _nowhere,_ mama!" Manny shouted as they chase her around the pinball machines.

"Get her!" Colleen shouted. "Get her! Grab her!”

*****

Bahar ran outside and down the street with the group giving chase. They didn’t know if she was connected to the Carnival Master or not, but if she was spying on them, then she was clearly up to no good.

Putting on an extra burst of speed, Roi ran past Manny, caught up with Bahar, and grabbed her, almost knocking them both to the ground as his friends caught up.

“Ah!” Bahar screamed, struggling in his grip as Mortimer caught up and grabbed her, too. “No!”

“Who _are_ you?” Joey demanded and when the woman refused to answer, he and Dawn also grabbed her, and they took her back to the arcade, determined to get some answers that would probably help them find the next artifact.

*****

Returning to the arcade, Mortimer, Roi, Dawn, and Joey shoved Bahar into a chair and Calliope stepped forward, holding a coil of rope.

“Tie her up!” Calliope hissed, handing Joey and Dawn the rope, and they went to work on tying the woman up. “She cannot be trusted! Quick!”

“Wait, _tie_ her?” Mortimer asked, surprised and a little uncomfortable with the idea. “Seriously?”

Nikita rolled her eyes, saying “Duh” and she began questioning Bahar once she was securely tied to the chair, impressed with how quickly Dawn and Joey were tying the knots. “Listen, honey!” she snapped, overriding Matt, who’d been saying “Don’t worry”. “ _What_ were you doing?”

“I'm looking for the same thing you're looking for!” Bahar insisted.

“And what is _that?_ ” Nikita demanded in a low and threatening manner.

“The Serpent's Eyes,” Bahar stammered.

Having moved from behind the chair once the knots had been securely tied, Joey and Dawn both gasped when they saw that the woman had been bitten on her neck, where they could see the bite mark and it looked infected as it was yellow with green veins. “She was bit!”

“The Snake Woman bit me!" Bahar explained desperately. "She stole my husband!” And she was clearly on the verge of tears, whether from fear, pain, or frustration, it was hard to tell.

Teala gaped and her friends gasped. “She’s a man-stealer, too?”

“Ma’am,” Dawn said and the woman looked at her. “Do you know _anything_ about an artifact? Or anything about the Carnival Master?”

“I don’t know,” Bahar admitted. “Look for suits in the lounge. That’s what I heard.”

“‘Suits in the lounge’?” Dawn and Joey repeated, exchanging perplexed looks, wondering what that meant.

Calliope stepped over to the woman. “Why don’t you guys go on,” she suggested. “I’ll stay here and watch her.”

Agreeing, the group headed back to the lounge to see what could be in there that could mean anything to the phrase “Suits in the lounge”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, what that clue mean? Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	3. CHAPTER TWO: SUITS AND SNAKE’S EYES

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Time to see what the group will do with that clue. Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**CHAPTER TWO: SUITS AND SNAKE’S EYES**

*****

Returning to the lounge, the group started searching for anything that hadn’t been in there before, and as they searched, Joey found a pack of playing cards and held them up.

“Oh,” he said, showing his friends the cards. “I found cards, guys. Guys, I got a bunch of playing cards.”

Safiya realized what the clue they’d been given meant. “Suits means the suits in a deck of cards,” she informed them. “We need to find hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs.” And she searched again, this time finding a dice tray with a club symbol on it. “I got the club,” she announced, brining it over to the table. “I have the club.”

“Is that all we need?” Teala asked.

Colleen shook her head. “No, we need every single suit.”

Manny found a perfume bottle and brought it over. “I found this.”

Dawn peered at the back of the cards that Joey was still holding and noted that some of them had lines on them. “Joey, there’s something on the back of the cards.”

Joey looked at some of the cards and saw that she was right. “Oh, you’re right, Donny,” he agreed. “Some of them…”

“Have markings,” Safiya finished.

Joey nodded. “I think it maybe all combines together,” he suggested, going to the table, and Nikita put the map aside so that he could put the cards down. “Here. Let's put it on the table.” Sitting down, he started flipping the cards over and, with the help of Dawn and Nikita, they connected the lines together to create a shape. “It’s an eight.”

Manny was still looking around and found something that hadn’t been there before. “Wait what?” He reached down and picked up a pair of dice that hadn’t been in the room before.

“What did you find?” Matt asked, glancing up from the cards.

“I found dice,” said Manny, showing off the dice, “but it has a club on it.”

Matt shrugged and waved him over. “Club? Bring it.”

Manny carried the dice over to where the dice tray that Safiya found earlier was located, and he rolled the dice between his fingers. “What does it have to do with dice?” he wondered, and he considered the dice tray that also had a club symbol on it. “Maybe, like…I don’t know…” He rolled the dice into the tray and gasped when they were drawn to the center of the tray, both of them landing on a one and a club. “Omigod! That was so weird. That was so weird."

"What happened?" Colleen asked.

"It magnetized," Manny explained, picking up the dice as his friends gathered around. "When I put it down…" He tossed the dice into the tray again to demonstrate. And just like last time, the dice were attracted to the club, and just like last time, they both landed on one and a club.

“Whoa,” Curtis muttered.

“Okay, let's just leave it there," Joey suggested while Manny took several deep breaths. "I feel like we're gonna have to do something with that."

"Hey, what about this perfume right here?" Mortimer asked, gesturing to the perfume that Manny found earlier.

Manny picked it up and saw on the depressor was a small red diamond. "It has a diamond on it," he noted and gasped, as something clicked in his mind that made sense. "Omigod!"

Joey realized it at the same time Manny did. "We have to spray!"

"Spray it on, bitch!" Manny ran over to a mounted piece of paper that also had a red diamond on it, and Nikita was right on his heels.

"Spray it," Joey instructed. "It correlates." Manny sprayed the paper with perfume, and what appeared to be a map appeared on it."That looks like a map!”

Dawn glanced between the map and the room, and she saw that Joey was right. “It’s a map of the room,” she pointed out, “and there’s an ‘X’ somewhere behind the couch.”

Matt also examined the map and agreed with the brunette. “Okay, the couch is that rectangle in the middle,” he said, pointing to the couch. “What else do we have? What other…”

Colleen, who was searching the floor connected to the back of the couch, pushed aside a cushion and found a door in the floor. “Wait, you guys!” she exclaimed and they all hurried over to her. “Guys! Guys!” She opened the door and inside was some kind of clock with four red hands, each with the card symbols on them.

“Ooooh!” Ro squealed. “Secret door!”

Joey looked between the clock hands and over at the table with the arranged playing cards. “I think we have to arrange it in the correct way,” he suggested, pointing to the playing cards. “The eight correlates with that.”

Dawn and Matt went back to the table, where she flipped some of the cards over to reveal that they were the heart cards. “These are hearts.”

“Ok, eight equals hearts,” Matt called out, glad to have a puzzle to focus on other then his guilt over failing to save Jc, and while Colleen positioned the clock hand with the heart, he picked up the dice in the dice tray. “The magnetized dice…” he rolled them, and it came up with the one and the club. “One equals club.”

“Ok, so that leaves the diamond and the spade,” Dawn said thoughtfully, glancing over at the map. “Manny, can you see if there’s a number connected to the diamond on the map?”

Manny went over to the map and took another look, spotting a small number under the red diamond. “It’s a ten! It’s a ten on it. Ten diamond.”

Matt nodded while Colleen positioned the club and diamond hands on their proper numbers, which just left the spade. “Is there anything else hidden?”

Colleen looked around where she was and noted that there was a green Statue of Liberty on a nearby table, but there was something off about it. _‘One of the hands is missing,’_ she thought, looking around for the missing torch hand. _‘Where can it be?’_

“Look at this,” said Safiya, having been searching the back of the room, and held up a small green hand that had a ring on it. “This is Lady Liberty’s torch.” She hurried over to the statue and put it on its’ proper spot. “It has a spade on it.” And this got her friends’ attention.

“What if you look through it or something?" Manny suggested. "Look through it! Is it pointing at anything?”

Colleen peered through the ring, but she wasn’t seeing anything helpful.

Matt looked around the room and noted another ring. “Does that circle line up with this circle at all?” he asked, pointing to them both.

Colleen shrugged and moved aside so that Joey could take a turn. _‘I have_ no _idea.’_

Joey peered through the ring and saw that Matt was right. Repositioning himself, he peered through both rings, and he saw that they lined up with a poster that had a box with a spade on it. “Ok,” he said, standing up and pointing to the poster. “What’s on the pack? The blue! The blue line on it! Is there a number on there?”

Manny checked the poster and he did find a number under the spade. “Five!”

Colleen put the last hand in the proper position and it clicked open, making them all gasp and laugh since this time, they’d been expecting it to open. “Omigod! There’s _stones_ in here!”

Safiya took out a pair of brownish stones, which both Dawn and Joey were certain were the second artifact, and Teala picked up the note that they’d been lying on.

“‘This is the second of the wicked artifacts’,” she read to the group. “‘To cleanse the Serpent's Eyes, you must find the head of a great snake, place the eyes inside, and bathe it in the blood of a serpent's heart’.”

“So what we have to do is find this snake,” said Colleen, summing it up for them, “place these inside his head, and bathe it in the blood of the serpent's heart.”

“Of course, now that we have the Serpent's Eyes, the guardian is bound to show up,” Dawn pointed out, and the whole group grimaced, dreading to think what that particular monster was going to look like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The artifact has been found! Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	4. CHAPTER THREE: BEWARE THE SNAKE WOMAN!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> The artifact has been found, and the question is where is the monster going to show up? Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**CHAPTER THREE: BEWARE THE SNAKE WOMAN!**

*****

While all of this was going on in the lounge, Calliope was still keeping an eye on the imprisoned Bahar, who’d been trying to convince the gypsy to let her go. Unknown to them, the Snake Woman was making her way along the side of the arcade, peered through the window at her target, and then she entered the building.

Bahar spotted the Snake Woman and screamed as the reptilian woman struck Calliope from behind, knocking her to the floor. As the gypsy tried to get up, the Snake Woman kicked her in the head with her boot, knocking her out cold, and then the reptilian woman advanced toward her target, who began begging and screaming.

*****

In the lounge, Joey and Dawn were grabbing their coats when the screams started coming from the arcade, and they exchanged alarmed looks since that was _never_ a good sign. They and their friends ran through the doorway to enter the arcade with Nikita wondering who was dying now, and she immediately regretted her question when they saw the Snake Woman biting the neck of Bahar.

“Omigod!” Manny shrieked as they skidded to a halt, staring at the woman that was bald with scaly green/yellow skin, black eyes, and she was topless, wearing only black leather pants and knee-high black boots.

The Snake Woman looked up from her victim, who’d stopped screaming and was slumped in the chair, and she hissed at the group, making them jump and back away a little. She then surprised them by running away.

“That – that – that was the Snake Woman!” Esther yelped.

Dawn and Safiya went over to the woman, and while the brunette did check for a pulse, it was clear that the woman was dead. “She’s gone.”

“She just comes back and finishes the job,” said Safiya, disappointed that this woman, who could’ve helped them, was dead. _‘Ok, if you get bitten twice, you die immediately.’_

“Might as well check the body for clues,” Matt suggested, although he clearly wasn’t thrilled with the idea.

But, that was _exactly_ what they all did, they started checking the woman’s outfit for clues, and Ro was checking the boots, having seen this done in movies. However, it was Colleen who found a possible clue.

“Wait! You guys! You guys!” she gasped, finding a book of matches in one of the jacket pockets. “I found it! I found it! Matches! Matches!” She opened it and read what was written inside. “‘Meet me at seven-thirty. Cindy’.”

“That was the friend she was going to meet,” Nikita guessed.

Joey took the matchbook from Colleen and he checked it over for any other clues and found a label on the back, which he showed them. “Fat Man Slim’s!”

It was clear, they were going to go to Fat Man Slim’s, and hopefully they would find what they needed to cleanse the Serpent's Eyes before someone else died. Although, that _did_ mean that one of them would probably have to die in order to finish cleansing the artifact, and they didn’t want to think about that right now.

*****

After waking Calliope up and making sure that she was going to be ok, the group got themselves ready, those who had jackets and/or coats put them on, and they exited the arcade, keeping an eye out for the Snake Woman since they didn’t know where she was or when she would strike next.

Roi was pointing out the pub when a hissing came from their left, and the group screamed and scattered when the Snake Woman lunged out of the shadows, having been hiding behind the arcade. He managed to shove Colleen out of the way, only to be grabbed himself by the Snake Woman. He screamed as she sank her fangs into his shoulder, and it felt like it was on fire!

The Snake Woman released, causing him to fall to the ground in a heap, and she hissed at them before running off once again.

“Did Guava get bit?” Colleen asked fearfully as they started back toward their fallen friend. “Guava got bit!”

“Roi!”

Calliope was the first to reach Roi, helping him up as his friends gathered around. “Are you ok?” she asked, and he shook his head, hurting too much to answer, clutching his injured shoulder.

“Roi, let me see,” Dawn requested and, after he removed his hand, peered at the bite mark and gasped, for it was already lined with yellow and green, and she knew that meant only one thing. “The Snake Woman bit him, he’s been poisoned!”

“Oh God,” Roi moaned, positive that he was going to die.

Calliope knew things looked grim, and she had more bad news for them. “In twenty minutes, it’s gonna eat through your organs.”

“ _What?!_ ” Roi yelped, staring at the gypsy.

“We have to create an antidote to save him,” Calliope added.

Mortimer saw the renewed hope in the eyes of the group. “I know there's a drugstore over there, right?” he asked, pointing to a nearby building.

Colleen nodded. “Yeah.”

“Maybe,” Mortimer continued, “we should split up.”

The group immediately agreed, even though it wasn’t something they wanted to do, but if it meant being able to save Roi and find the Serpent's Head in order to cleanse the artifact, then that was what they had to do.

“Who wants to come with Dawn and I to Fat Man Slims?” Joey asked, taking charge. “And who wants to go to the drugstore to make an antidote for Roi?”

“I’ll go to the drugstore,” Matt offered, seeing this as his chance to redeem himself for failing to save Jc, and he’d always been good at science.

“I’ll come with you,” said Ro, standing by his side.

“We’ll come, too,” said Curtis and Esther nodded.

Colleen also volunteered to go to the drugstore. “Guava’s my friend, I’m with you guys.”

The group then split with Matt’s team heading to the drugstore with Mortimer, while Joey’s team headed for Fat Man Slim’s, and Calliope helped Roi back into the arcade.

*****

Roi was moaning as Calliope helped him back into the building, herding him over to a nearby couch to get him to lie down. “Lie on the couch over there,” she instructed, helping him lie down and held his hand while he kept moaning, and she knew that he was probably feeling helpless right now, being unable to help his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP Behar and poor Roi! Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	5. CHAPTER FOUR: PASSWORD AND INGREDIENTS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Time to see if our favorite heroes can save Rio's life and find something useful in Fat Man Slim's. Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**CHAPTER FOUR: PASSWORD AND INGREDIENTS**

*****

Matt, Colleen, Ro, Curtis, and Esther followed Mortimer to the drugstore, and when they entered, there was no one inside, but there was all kinds of stuff that would probably be helpful in making a cure for Roi before it was too late.

“We gotta be quick,” Mortimer reminded them as he shut the door.

“Ok,” said Colleen, looking around as she took off her coat so that it wouldn’t get in the way. “There’s no one in here, so we need to figure this out on our own.”

Looking around, Matt found some books on a counter, and the name on one of them caught his attention. “Here,” he said, picking it up. “Apothecary Field Guide.” He flipped it open and quickly found what they needed. “Anti-Venom Recipe!” he exclaimed, thrilled to have a recipe to follow. _‘Perfect!’_

“Omigod!” Colleen gasped as they gathered around and saw the recipe. “ _That_ was easy!”

“Ok!” Ro said excitedly.

“Perfect for what we need,” Curtis commented and Esther agreed.

Nodding, Matt read the recipe’s instructions. “‘This is an old recipe for anti-venom that will stop even a cobra's bite. After the ingredients are gathered, they have to be combined in a centrifuge. If done correctly, the liquid will be yellow’.” And below it was a list of ingredients that they needed to find.

“Ok,” said Curtis, “let’s get to work.” And they split up to start searching for the ingredients that were listed in the book.

*****

Meanwhile, Joey and his team entered Fat Man Slim’s, finding it devoid of people, and yet there was plenty to look at. Manny had a desire to pour himself a drink, but it wasn’t the time or the place since there was still a scary Snake Woman out there, and they had a mission to complete.

Manny checked his watch. “Oh, wait,” he said, “it’s almost seven-thirty.”

“Meet Cindy at seven-thirty at Fat Man Slim’s,” Joey recalled, and they started searching the bar for any clues or even the Cindy that was suppose to be there. "Manny, go check upstairs.”

Manny started up the circular staircase, but just as he reached the turn, a slot in the door at the top of the stairs suddenly opened, and he found himself staring at a pair of creepy male eyes that were staring _right_ at him. “Omigod!” he screamed, clamping his hands over his mouth.

“What?” his friends asked, and both Joey and Dawn joined him on the stairs to see what was going on.

“I see someone’s eyes looking at me,” Manny announced, his voice muffled by his hands. “I swear to God.”

The man behind the door spoke to them in a gruff voice. “You want the package?” he asked and when Manny, Joey, and Dawn all nodded nervously, he grunted. “Well, you've got to give me the password.” He then shut the slot, disappearing from view behind the door.

“ _Ok_ ,” said Dawn, exchanging uneasy looks with Manny and Joey as they retreated down the stairs. “Apparently we need some kind of password for a package.” _‘Passwords, combinations, and keys. Jeez, why does this_ all _sound familiar? Oh yeah, I’ve already done this before! Two_ freakin’ _years in a row!’_

Nikita looked around and found a gold box on a shelf. “I found a gold box!”

Joey retrieved the box and carried it over to the nearest table. “I bet inside the box is going to be the password," he theorized, setting it down and he took a closer look. "There's a locked box, and it has three numbers.” He took out the matchbook and looked at the message on it. “We're supposed to meet Cindy here at seven-thirty. Should we try seven-three-zero?"

“Worth a shot,” Dawn agreed.

"Seven-three-zero!" Nikita concurred.

"Omigod!" Manny exclaimed. "Yes!”

Joey put seven-three-zero into the lock and it opened, making his friends cheer. He lift the lid and inside the box was a bunch of hundred-dollar bills. “Ooh!" he gasped. "Money!” He took the money out, and underneath it was a folder with a post-it note on it.

“Don’t spend it all at once, Joey,” Dawn teased, and he just grinned in returned.

Safiya picked up the folder and read the note. “‘Use the photos to get the password’.” She opened the folder and inside was five black/white photos, some of which had a man and a woman in it, and they were all of different locations, most likely locations in the pub. “Each photo represents a word," she explained. "We need five words to complete the password."

"Do we need to recreate those moments?" Manny asked.

Safiya shook her head. "I think that we should look in these places.” And they started searching the bar for the items in the photos.

*****

Over at the drugstore, Matt started reading the ingredients aloud, only to discover that some of them had been partly blacked out, and clearly on purpose. “Dang it,” he muttered. “Someone deliberately crossed out parts of the instructions.”

“Well, read what you can and we’ll see what we can find that could work,” Curtis suggested. _‘Of course, whoever’s behind this wouldn’t want to make it_ that _easy for us.’_

Matt nodded and he started reading the ingredients again. “‘Ingredient #1: A pinch of hem…something’.”

Colleen, Ro, Curtis, and Esther searched the shelves and managed to find both hemp root and hemlock, which meant that there was probably more then one type of the possible ingredients.

“Bring them both over,” Matt requested and read out the next ingredients. “‘Ingredient #2: One drop of snake something. Ingredient #3: One drop of something oil’.”

"Okay, what are the things again?" Colleen asked holding two bottles. “Because I have snake blood, and I have snake venom. I have rose oil, and I have tea tree oil.”

Matt suppressed a groan, especially when Esther and Curtis also found olive oil and palm oil. “Grab whatever you see,” he requested. “Bring it over to this table.” And they brought the bottles over, putting them on the tray, and he read the next set of ingredients. “‘Ingredient #4: One petal from an evening flower. Ingredient #5: One pebble that causes water to bubble’.”

As his friends went back to search the shelves, Matt noticed that Mortimer had picked up a pamphlet off one of the counters. “What’s this?” he asked, going over to see what he’d found. “What did you find?”

“I don’t know,” Mortimer admitted.

Matt took it from him and flipped through it. “It’s a pamphlet,” he remarked, and found something interesting in it. “‘A fun trick you can try to demonstrate hydrophobia is to add calcium carbonate to water. When the calcium carbonate touches water, the resulting process releases carbon dioxide’.Which means it's gonna bubble," he explained to the others. "We need calcium carbonate, which is…it's a stomach antacid.”

Colleen nodded and kept searching the shelves. “Chloride..."

"Whatever it is, you guys gotta find it," Mortimer reminded them, checking his watch.

"We're working on it, honey!" Colleen shot back.

Mortimer ignored her and kept talking. "And mix them together, all right? Roi doesn't have time!”

_‘I know,’_ Matt thought, searching behind one of the counters for ingredients. _‘I know, and I’m not going to let Roi die. Jc is dead because of me, but I won’t let Roi die, too!’_

*****

Over at the arcade, Roi was still lying on the couch, feeling useless while groaning in pain, positive that he could feel the venom traveling through his body. “How much longer?” he asked, not really wanting to know, but he couldn’t stand feeling hopeless.

“Nine minutes,” Calliope answered, gently squeezing his hand to give him some comfort. “Try to stay awake.”

Roi nodded, wishing that he could help his friends, and when Calliope began singing softly in some language that he didn’t recognized, but he found it oddly comforting, and his mind focused on it instead of the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope they can save Roi. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	6. CHAPTER FIVE: SNAKE ATTACK!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> It's time to see how our favorite YouTubers are doing. Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**CHAPTER FIVE: SNAKE ATTACK!**

*****

Meanwhile at the pub, Safiya picked up one of the photos, which had a poster in the background, and pointed to it. “Is this poster somewhere?” she wondered and they began looking for the poster.

As they searched the bar, Manny found a poster on one of the wooden posts. “Wait, what does it look like?” he asked, pointing to the small poster. “Is this it?” The others gathered and they took a look at the poster, recognizing it as the one in the photo.

“Yep, that's it,” Safiya confirmed and she saw that there was a word on it, which is just what they need. "It says 'grass’.”

“One word down and four words to go,” Dawn remarked, finding a pen and wrote it on the photo.

Nikita wandered to the other side of the room and pushed aside strings of beads to find an adjacent room that was pink, with a spinning disco ball on the ceiling, and a stripper pole. Recalling that one of the photos was for this room, she hurried back out with an eager expression on her face. “You guys, are you _sure_ we shouldn't just recreate it?” she asked hopefully.

“Yeah,” Joey agreed and Nikita hurried back into the room while he grabbed some of the money, and they all followed him. “Let’s just do it. I’ll be the man with the money.”

“Um, think this is a good idea?” Dawn asked Safiya uncertainly as Manny practically pushed her into the room.

Safiya shrugged and followed, not seeing any harm in it, despite what this was probably going to her Latter-day Saint friend. “Let’s just try and do it as quickly as possible.”

Nikita grinned as she took off her jacket, handing it to Teala, and soon enough, she started dancing and swinging around the pole. She was pleased that Joey was getting into the act with Manny, Teala was trying to cheer her on, and Dawn was just shaking her head with a bemused smile. _‘At least she isn’t hiding her face,’_ she thought.

Unfortunately, Nikita’s performance got cut short when the Snake Woman entered the bar, and they all quickly retreated to the far end of the pole dancing room, huddling in a corner while they listened to the Snake Woman moving around the other room, clearly searching for them.

Luckily for the group, there was another door that lead outside. Manny quietly opened the door, and they all hurried outside as quietly as possible.

*****

Once the group was outside, they started circling the building to get back to the front since they were now in the back, and just then, the Snake Woman burst through the door. They all screamed, running for the front of the building and back inside.

*****

Once inside, the group scattered, trying to find hiding places as the Snake Woman entered and spotted Teala, who was ducking back into the pole dancing room, following Manny and Nikita. Unfortunately, before she could escape, the Snake Woman grabbed her from behind, and she screamed, dropping Nikita’s jacket.

“Teala!” Dawn darted forward and tried to rescue the Super Spy, but ended up being knocked backwards and onto the floor when the Snake Woman backhanded her, leaving her dazed. She could only watched helplessly as the Snake Woman bit Teala on the shoulder, making her cry out in pain, and then dragged her out of the bar. “Teala…” she moaned, blacking out.

*****

Roi was dozing to Calliope’s soft singing when there was a sudden stabbing in his back that reminded him that he was dying from snake venom, and he cried out. “Ugh! Ah!”

“What is wrong?” Calliope asked, stopping her song, squeezing his hand in support. “What is wrong now?”

“There’s something on my back,” Roi groaned, rolling off the couch and was surprised when the pain faded.

Calliope was looking puzzled. “On your back?”

Wondering what had been poking him in the back, Roi searched under the cushions until he found something hard and pulled it out. “What is this?” he wondered, finding an ashtray and a note. “‘Come find me’. Come find me?”

Just then, the door to the arcade banged open, startling Roi and Calliope, and they were alarmed when the Snake Woman shoved Teala inside, and the poor girl was shaking like a leaf. The Snake Woman hissed at them before leaving once again.

“She bit me!” she wailed, clutching her shoulder, which was burning with pain as Roi and Calliope hurried over to her. “She bit me!”

“The Snake Woman?” Roi asked, although it was an obvious question.

Teala nodded, her eyes brimmed with tears and pain. “The others are going to think me as useless for letting this happen! I don’t want to die!”

“We’re not gonna _die_ ,” Roi insisted and showed her what he found. “I found this ashtray and this note under the couch cushion. If we can solve this, then we can help the others.”

Teala let go of her shoulder and took the note, reading it. “‘Come find me’.” She thought about that. “Should we check the lounge?”

“Good idea,” Roi agreed and they hurried back into the lounge to search for clues while Calliope followed them.

*****

At the drugstore, the group was still searching for the ingredients that they needed in order to make the antidote, and Matt was reading from a pamphlet on snake bites, learning something interesting. “‘Anti-venom is developed from the venom of the attacking species. It's important to identify the type of animal that's bitten you’.”

"A snake," Colleen remarked.

"Was it snake blood or snake venom?" Ro wondered. "So it _has_ to be snake venom, doesn't it?"

Matt beamed at her. "Yes, Ro! Exactly!” he agreed, removing the snake blood from the tray. “That's _another_ ingredient figured out!”

Pleased to have figured that out, they went back to searching for the remaining ingredients, and Ro was searching the bottom shelves and she found a container with the words “Moon Lily” on it. “What about Moon Lily?” she suggested, showing what she found to Colleen, who was closest. “That’s a night plant.”

Colleen checked the label and nodded. “Oh, that’s a petal!”

“What?” Matt asked from behind the counter, where he and Curtis were searching for ingredients.

“Moon Lily?” Ro asked, bringing over the container. “A night plant?”

Matt nodded. “Moon Lily! Great! That’s it,” he agreed. “An evening petal. Yes! Absolutely! Yes!”

“So, now we just need the calcium carbonate,” Curtis remarked as he got up to help Ro set up the confirmed ingredients that they knew so far.

“I found it!” Colleen called out, finding a bottle labeled stomach antacid, and she carried it to the counter. “I found it! Calcium carbonate!”

“Good job, Colleen,” said Esther, pleased.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Ro squealed.

Even Matt was relieved. “Great,” he said as she handed him the bottle, and he took out a few white pills. “Let’s just double-check andmake sure that calcium carbonate makes the water bubble." He turned to Curtis, who’d gotten them a glass of water. "Bill Nye the Science Guy, eat your heart out.” He dropped the pill into the water and it started bubbling instantly. “So, here’s our calcium carbonate. Here’s our Moon Lily. Great. Snake venom.”

“That’s three ingredients,” Esther said and nodded to the remaining bottles and containers. “So, which of these should we also try?”

Matt considered the oils and both the hemp root and the hemlock. “Blank oil,” he repeated. “It seems like it's only one word, so let's do rose oil,” he added the bottle to the tray, “and then, finally, hem something. So we have hemp root and hemlock, so we can try both.” He put both brown bottles on the tray.

Colleen had picked up the pamphlet and found something inside it. “Well, this says 'hemlock' in here,” she revealed and read what it said about the hemlock. “‘Hemlock is so poisonous it can cause death’.”

“Well then,” said Matt, removing the hemlock from the tray since he didn’t want to end up killing Roi by accident. “That seems like that would _probably_ not be the way to go, so let's start with hemp root.” He then began adding the ingredients to a small glass vial. “Let's put a little bit of _this_ guy in here," he muttered, pouring the ingredients in. "Everything's in. Let's add a little bit of water.” He then picked up the vial and carried it over to the centrifuge, handing to to Curtis. “Put that in the centrifuge, and make sure that it’s balanced.”

Curtis nodded and was careful to put the vial into the centrifuge, closing the lid. “Ok, it’s in and ready.”

Colleen was ready to turn the centrifuge on and her finger hovered above the button. “Ok, you ready?”

Matt nodded. “Yes,” he said and she turned it on.

The centrifuge ran for a minute and when it started to power down, Matt grabbed a glass container off the counter and Esther got ready to turn on the faucet that was located under the centrifuge. “Ok, let’s see if this worked.”

“Yellow, yellow, yellow,” Ro chanted since that was the color they wanted.

Matt nodded to Esther, who turned on the faucet, and they all watched, only to see that the liquid that came out was a disgusting shade of green instead of yellow.

“It’s green,” Colleen complained. “Ok so, that…we did it wrong.”

They all sighed, disappointed and turned back to the counter to figure out what they had done wrong. Who knew mixing up an antidote could be so freakin’ _hard?!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor, Teala! Man, this is getting rough for everyone. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	7. CHAPTER SIX: PASSWORD AND CURE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> Time to see how our favorite YouTubers are doing with the search for the password and making a cure for Roi and Teala. Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**CHAPTER SIX: PASSWORD AND CURE**

*****

_`“Dawn? Dawn can you hear me? Donny?”`_

Dawn groaned, regaining consciousness, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself looking up at Joey, Safiya, Nikita, and Manny. “Ow,” she moaned as they helped her to her feet and she gingerly rubbed her sore jaw, although the back of her head was throbbing from colliding with the floor. “Stupid snake backhanded me. Ow.”

“You’re lucky that she _only_ backhanded you,” Nikita pointed out. “’cause that thing _bit_ Teala and ran off with her. What were you _thinking_ , Dawn?”

“I was reacting, and ended up seeing stars as a result,” the brunette retorted. “How long was I out?”

“Just for a minute or so,” Joey informed her. “Come on, you can sit at the table and organize the photos while we find the rest of the words for the password.”

“Joey, I’m _fine_.”

“Sit!”

“ _Fine._ ”

While Safiya was shocked that Teala had been bitten and taken by the Snake Woman, she was glad that the actress was ok, giving how she was reacting to Joey going all big brother on her, but they didn’t have a lot of time to waste. “All right, well, we have to work as fast as possible,” she reminded them, “because Teala is _literally_ dying.”

"Which might not be such a bad thing, you guys," Nikita remarked, sounding _incredibly_ indifferent about the whole situation, and when everyone turned to stare at her, she actually flushed. "Just saying. Sorry. I'm looking. I'm looking.”

Dawn just shook her head, doing her best ignore the pain, and focused instead on the photos, especially when Manny found a coaster that had a word written on it. “Cold!” he called out, grabbing the item and brought it over to the table. “I have something that says ‘cold’.”

Dawn checked the photos and found the one that had the coaster in it. “Ok,” she said, writing the word on the photo. “We got ‘grass’ and ‘cold’.”

Safiya searched the bar and she found a pack of cigarettes on on table, which had a word written on it. “There’s this cigarette pack that says ‘green’.”

“Bring it over,” Dawn requested, writing the word ‘green’ on the correct photo and was startled when Nikita, who was peering under the table, exclaimed loudly that she also found a word. “Wait, what?”

Nikita poked her head out and gestured to the underside of the table that they’d put photos on. “It says, under here, it says ‘snakes’.”

“You’re kidding,” said Manny.

Nikita shook her head. “It says ‘snakes’ right here,” she insisted.

Dawn peered under the table and sure enough, written on the underside was the word ‘SNAKES’. “Nikita’s right,” she agreed, straightening up and she wrote ‘snakes’ on the photo. “Ok, we have four out of five letters, but how do we put them in order?”

Nikita looked at the photos and noticed something on the first photo that had ‘grass’ written on it. “Wait, you guys,” she said, pointing to a number on the photo. “There’s a five under the sign.”

Both Joey and Dawn were surprised to see that she was right, and they had somehow missed it. “Ok, so let’s put them in order.” They then rearranged the photos, finding the numbers on each photo so that they went from one to five.

Safiya looked between the photos and the clues they’d gathered so far. “What about these clues that were found at these places?” she wondered. “Could they be in the order that these are laid out in?”

“They could be,” Dawn agreed. “It could be a phrase.”

Joey nodded, figuring that they both could be right. “So the cigarettes could be green,” he said, picking up the cigarette pack and put it on the first photo.

“Cold is this one,” Safiya guessed, putting the coaster on the fourth photo.

They matched each clue with its corresponding photograph, and they soon came up with a phrase that was missing a single word. “Green snakes, blank, cold grass,” they said in unison.

*****

Meanwhile at the drugstore, Matt and his team regrouped around the counter with the tray, trying to figure out where they’d screwed up with the ingredients.

“Ok, so with the exception of the oil,” said Curtis, “we know that the rest of the ingredients are right.”

Matt nodded and removed the bottle of rose oil. “So, tea tree oil isn’t big enough to fill the blank, so let’s try either the olive oil or the palm oil.”

“Are we sure these were all the oils over here?” Mortimer wondered, going back to the shelf that most of the ingredients had been found on.

“Are we missing an oil?” Matt questioned, glancing at him.

Mortimer shrugged. “I mean, you said it wasn't big enough to be tea tree, right?” he asked and the detective nodded.

Ro went to the shelf, looked at the bottles, and found an oil that they’d somehow missed. “Castor oil?” she suggested, bringing it over.

“It could be castor oil,” Matt guessed.

“I think it’s worth a shot,” Mortimer agreed, checking his watch. “Roi’s running out of time.”

Matt added the other ingredients with Colleen’s help into a new vial and noted that Ro was having troubles with the castor oil bottle. “It’s child-safe,” he informed her. “Push down on it.”

“Oh,” said Ro, pushing down on it, and it finally worked.

“There you go,” Matt said with a smile.

“Keeps me out,” Ro joked, earning some chuckles as she added the castor oil to the vial. “Boom!”

“Ok, let’s try it,” Colleen suggested.

Matt went to the centrifuge and put it in. “Here we go,” he said, turning the centrifuge on.

“God,” said Colleen, “this _has_ to be it.”

When the centrifuge powered down, Matt grabbed a new container and held it under the faucet, which Curtis turned on this time. Seconds later, a yellow liquid came pouring out into the container, overflowing a bit before the faucet could be turned off.

“There it is!” Matt cheered, delighted that they _finally_ got the antidote. “There it is! That’s perfect! Yes! Yes!”

Mortimer opened the door and gestured at them. “We gotta get back to Roi,” he insisted. “Come on.”

“Let’s go. Let’s go.” Matt hurried Ro, Colleen, Esther, and Curtis out the door ahead of them. “Watch out for the Snake Woman.”

They had the cure and now it was time to save Roi.

*****

In the lounge, Roi and Teala were searching for the symbol on the note, and he was starting to feel dizzy, which meant that he didn’t have much time left, but he was determined to find the answer to the clue before it was too late for him. Looking at a wall near the doorway, he found the symbol on it. “Teala!” he called out and she ran over. “Right here!”

Teala joined him and sure enough, on the wall was the woman symbol, plus a string sticking out of the wall. “It’s a string,” she remarked and Roi pulled on it. “What does that-?”

Suddenly a door popped open, making them both gasp and jump back a little. Pushing the door open, they found a colorful wooden star and a note that they read together. “‘Place me on the horizon’.”

Before they could figure the clue out, they heard a shout and turned as Matt ran inside with Curtis, Esther, Ro, and Colleen. “Roi!”

“Over here!” Roi exclaimed, happy to see them. “We found a clue!”

“Teala, what’re you doing here?” Esther asked, surprised to see the Super Spy. “Wait, did you get bitten by the Snake Woman?”

Teala nodded, and Matt was quick to give first Roi, and then her, some of the antidote. Soon, they were both coughing and gagging since the antidote tasted _horrible_ , but they were both feeling better, and they knew that it had worked.

*****

Back at the pub, Team Password was still missing a single word for the password, and they knew that it had to be in the pole dancing room somewhere.

“It's over there, you guys," Safiya said, going back to the pole dancing room and her friends followed her to help search. "It's gotta be."

"It _has_ to be over there,"Manny agreed as they searched the room again.

"I just…I keep going over there, and I can't find _anything,_ ” Safiya griped, frustrated that they couldn’t find the last word.

"I can't, either!” Manny agreed, also frustrated. “It's _so_ weird!"

They turned the pole dancing room upside down. Joey knelt in front of the couch and peered under a table before looking at the cushions themselves. "Should we just lift up the cushions?" he wondered, and when no one answered him, he lifted up one of the cushions, and the word "in" was revealed. “Found it!”

*****

Returning to the photos, Dawn wrote “In” on the last photo and they _finally_ had the completed password. They had the _freaking_ password!

“It’s ‘green snakes in cold grass’,” said Safiya, relieved that they got it.

Manny just happened to glance out the window and saw the rest of their friends heading their way with Mortimer and Calliope. He also saw that Roi and Teala were with them, and they both weren’t looking sick anymore. “Omigod, they’re coming!”

“Is that Teala?” Nikita asked, surprised to see the Super Spy alive and well.

“Come in!” said Joey, waving them inside and was happy when Teala and Dawn hugged each other. “Come in! Come in!”

Safiya smiled, happy to see her friends all reunited, especially seeing that Roi and Teala were okay, thanks to the antidote that Matt had come up with, but they still needed to find the Serpent's Head, and she went up the stairs to give the man the password. When the slot open so that she could see only his eyes, she spoke the password. “Green snakes in cold grass.”

“Head downstairs,” the man growled. “I’ll meet you shortly.” And he closed the slot again.

Safiya went back down the stairs and told her friends that the man was going to join them, so they sat down at one of the tables to wait, wondering what kind of package they were going to get from the strange and creepy man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double victory! Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	8. CHAPTER SEVEN: JENGA ANYONE? PART ONE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> The group is reunited and the password has been given. Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**CHAPTER SEVEN: JENGA ANYONE? PART ONE**

*****

The group hadn’t been waiting very long when the man, who was scruffy-looking, came down the stairs, and he smirked when he saw them gathered at the table, some were sitting while others were standing. “Well, well, look at this lot,” he scoffed.

“Oh, hey!” Colleen said in a flirtatious manner.

The man ignored her and set a pack of playing cards on the table. “Each of you, take a card,” he instructed, and the group exchanged uneasy looks as they each took a card from the deck, passing it around until they all had one, keeping them face down for the moment.

Just then, the back door opened and two men entered, carrying something that was covered with a green blanket, and whatever was under the blanket was clearly tall and, most likely, heavy. When Teala asked why the door opened, the scruffy man answered her question. “That's Rodrigo and his friend, he's my manservant.”

_‘Where are all these hunky men coming from?’_ Nikita wondered. _‘Do I have an active dating app or something turned on?’_ And Colleen was thinking along similar lines when she called the new arrivals, “cuties”.

The group watched nervously as the men carried the covered objet over to the table, setting it down, and both Joey and Dawn were bracing themselves since they had _no_ idea what was under that blanket, only it most likely wasn’t going to be anything good based on their past experience of the last two years.

“That’s taller than me,” Ro remarked, eying the object and wondering what it was.

The men removed the blanket to reveal that the object was a snake-themed tabletop game. It was made out of dozens of green blocks that were stacked on top of each other, forming a tower, and there was a golden snake pattern going from top to the bottom.

_‘Jenga?’_ Dawn thought, surprised to see _another_ familiar game, even if it was one she hadn’t played before, but she knew that the object of the game was to remove the blocks and put them on top without knocking the tower over. _‘First it’s a twisted version of Spin the Bottle, then it’s twisted Battleship, then it’s ring toss, then it’s Capture the Flag, Hot and Cold, and now Jenga. I wonder what the twist is this time? There’s_ always _a twist.’_

“It's time to play the Serpent's Game," the scruffy man announced, and the group focused on him, "where the ante is your life. Inside this tower, there's a golden brick, and it's up to you to find it and place it on the pedestal right there." He pointed to a pink pedestal that'd been positioned next to a large chest, and then he turned back to the group. "You topple over the tower, you go into the final death challenge. No vote.”

Hearing this, the group exchanged nervous looks. If one of them ended up toppling the tower over, then that person would go into the elimination without a single vote, and that was the scariest plot twist so far.

“Flip your cards over,” the scruffy man instructed and they all flipped over the cards they’d been holding. “Now, that’s the order you go in.”

Nikita held up her card, which had a single black Spade on it. “I have ace. What does that mean?” she asked.

“First,” Joey informed her, “you go first.”

The scruffy man took a step back from the table. “Game on!”

Nikita put her card down and approached the tower, examining the blocks before placing one stylized nail on the one she would remove, which she was certain wouldn’t make the tower fall. However, when she went to pull it out, some of her friends were shuffling around and talking, making it hard to concentrate on the task at hand.

“Wait, can you guys stand still for a _second?!?_ ” she shrieked, making Dawn winced, but the others did stop talking and moving, freezing in place. “Thank you.” She slid the block out and, not seeing any gold on it, set it on top carefully. “Ok, cool.”

Teala went next, being careful as she slid the block she’d chosen out, revealing that it wasn’t gold, and she set it on top of the tower without anything falling.

“Who’s three?” Joey asked and Ro raised her hand, looking nervous since she wasn’t sure that she could reach any of the top blocks. He and Dawn scooted down on the seat, prompting Matt to stand up, and they let Ro in.

“You got this, Ro,” Dawn said reassuringly as their friend went for one of the middle blocks, “slow and steady, sweetie.”

Ro was feeling panicking as she wiggled the block out, her eyes wide, and she managed to tug it out without knocking over the tower. She was relieved and added it to the top before scurrying off the seat. “Whew!”

“Who’s four?” Colleen asked, relieved that Ro wasn’t going into the final death challenge.

“Me.” Joey was feeling nervous, but he did quickly get a block out of the middle without anything bad happening, and put it on the top. “I was the quickest, so…just wanna…”

“Show off,” Colleen said without any heat, earning a grin, and since she had five, she went next. Also choosing a block from the middle, she worked on getting it out, and placed it on the top, relieved that the blasted thing hadn’t fallen on her. “Who’s six?”

Dawn gulped. “I am.” She was feeling shaky as she tried to focus on pulling out one of the middle blocks from the tower. _‘If this falls, and I get killed in the final death challenge, we’re all_ screwed _.’_

“You got this, Donny,” Joey said softly, watching as she wiggled and tugged on the block, slowly removing it while keeping a wary eye on the tower, hoping and praying that it wouldn’t fall over on his friend. “You’ve got this.”

Dawn got the block halfway out when Nikita, who’d been becoming impatient, suddenly snapped.

“Just pull it out!”

The brunette frozen when the tower wobbled, making everyone else wince in fear, and when it stopped moving, she glared over her shoulder at the young woman. “Nikita, I didn’t yell at you when you took your turn, mind giving me the same respect?” she requested. “I almost got it, so please. No yelling.” Sighing, she turned back to the block that she was still holding, and she finally wiggled it the rest of the way out with the tower still standing. “Ok, ok.” Seeing no gold on it, she placed it on the top and sank back into the seat. “Whew, now I know why I’ve never played this game. Too much stress.”

_‘Dawn was one of the few not talking when I took my turn first,’_ Nikita thought, feeling a bit guilty for yelling at the brunette like that. _‘I_ should _show her the same respect that she showed me. I’ll apologize later.’_

Manny went next, pulling on one of the blocks and Nikita was cheering him on. “For the first time in your life, pull out!” And to his credit, he did pull the block out with the tower still standing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't played Jenga before, but from what I've seen, it can be a stressful game. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	9. CHAPTER EIGHT: JENGA ANYONE? PART TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> It's time for more Jenga! Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**CHAPTER EIGHT: JENGA ANYONE? PART TWO**

*****

Curtis, Esther, and Roi all took their turns, and while the good news was that the tower was still standing, the bad news was that no one had managed to find the brick with gold on it. Plus, it felt like they’d been playing for _hours_ already, and they knew that they didn’t have much time until sunrise and the release of the Carnival Master.

“Okay, does anyone see any gold?” Safiya asked after Matt took his turn.

Colleen peered at the blocks and shook her head. “No, darling.”

Nikita was getting frustrated and put her hands on her hips. “We _have_ to find the gold!”

“I think it’s a dot,” Ro guessed, pointing to the blocks that she could see the tops of, “‘cause I see all the tops of these, and it’s green, green, green.”

“We shouldn't keep pulling pieces that we know that aren't gold!" Colleen complained. "It's a waste of time!” And the only thing that was keeping her from knocking over the tower there and now was the threat of going into the final death challenge without a vote.

Safiya took her turn, expertly removing a block from the tower and placed it on top without knocking it over. Knowing that she was first again, Nikita chose a block, removed it, and added it to the top without any incident.

Teala felt the pressure since it was now her her turn, and she was stressing out over which block to choose that wouldn’t cause it to topple on her. “Ugh.”

“Just take one out, honey,” Colleen suggested helpfully.

Teala could feel the minutes tick by as she tried to decide which block to remove from the tower, knowing that her friends were all watching her expectantly wasn’t helping matters.

“Teala,” Nikita said, sounding like an exasperated parent, “for the team, I think it's best that you choose one right now, because we are _literally_ running out of time, and we're _all_ about to die.”

Feeling frustrated, Teala finally chose a block, and pulled it out a bit faster then normal. She froze when the tower wobbled, but then it steadied, and she set the block on top.

*****

The minutes flew by as Ro, Joey, Colleen, Dawn, Manny, Curtis, Esther, and Roi all picked blocks in quick succession, and soon enough, it was Matt’s turn again. He’d been watching and noting the blocks that’d been chosen, and he was pretty certain that he’d figured out where the block with the gold dot on it mostly likely was.

“Here’s the thing,” he said to the group. “One of these that actually provides structural integrity could be the one with the gold.”

“Right,” said Colleen, catching onto what he was saying. “So, it could be a suicide mission.”

Matt nodded as he moved around the tower, eying the blocks that were structurally keeping the tower upright. “It’s a suicide mission.”

_‘The block with the gold is positioned so that if it’s removed,’_ Dawn thought, sharing an uneasy look with Joey as they stood side-by-side, _‘the tower will fall, and that person will be put up for elimination. I_ hate _those kinds of plot twists.’_

Roi watched Matt as he started reaching for one of the crucial blocks that were keeping the tower stable. _‘Matt saved my life earlier,’_ he thought, thinking back to the antidote he’d been given. _‘I should return the favor.’_ “You saved my life, though,” he remarked and his friend paused to look at him. “You saved my life, Matt,” he continued. “I can do this for you.”

“You _are_ a Daredevil,” Matt agreed with a slight chuckle. “You could jump across this table and stop me as I do this.” And he touched the block he was going to remove.

“How are you _literally_ the Daredevil, and you're not gonna take a chance for all of us?” Nikita demanded, surprising the group and they stared at her.

“Omigod!” Colleen gasped. “Calling him out!”

Nikita ignored the shocked looks and gasps coming from her friends, her eyes were fixed on Roi, who was staring right back at her. “I'm just saying that he _literally_ saved your life.”

The group looked between Roi and Nikita, surprised by this twist of events, and they were all wondering whether Roi would rise up to Nikita’s challenge or not.

“You want me to do it?” Roi asked her, sounding surprisingly calm.

“I want you to do it!” Nikita shouted, daring him to take the plunge. “If you are the Daredevil of this group, then _prove it_ _!_ ”

_‘I_ did _come here to help save the town,’_ Roi thought, surprised at how calm he was feeling. _‘And I chose to be the Daredevil for a reason. True, I didn’t expect to_ actually _risk my life like this, but it’s what we all have to do.’_ “All right,” he agreed, stepping over to the tower and Matt took a step back. “Check this out, then.” He grabbed one of the crucial blocks and, taking a moment to look at his friends, he gave it a quick yank to pull it out.

Unfortunately, the tower collapsed, making them all scream while Roi leapt backwards to keep from getting hit, and he knew that he was going to have to go into the final death challenge. _‘But I_ did _prove myself,’_ he thought picking up the block he’d removed, having dropped it a second ago. “You happy?” he asked, stepping over the remaining blocks to the other side of the table, and he shoved the block into Nikita’s hand. “This is for you! _That’s_ for you!”

“Thanks,” Nikita mumbled, taking the block and was once again feeling a bit guilty, having been surprised when Roi _actually_ accepted her dare, and now he was at risk… _again._

Safiya and Teala both searched the fallen blocks for the one that had the gold on it, and then Safiya found it on the floor.

“Oh, I have it,” she said, showing it to the group, and sure enough, it was a gold dot just like Ro suspected. She then put it on the pedestal next to the chest, which popped open. She lifted out a green snake head, which was clearly the Serpent's head, plus a note, and she carried both over to the table. She put the snake’s eyes into the head, and then she read the note to her friends. “‘To finish cleansing the artifact, two must be selected by vote and search the innards of a serpent to claim its heart’.”

_‘Only have to vote for one person this time,’_ Joey thought, wishing that Roi didn’t have to do the challenge. “We're gonna have to vote.” And taking the Serpent's head with them, they headed back to the lounge to decide who else was going into the elimination with Roi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Darn it, Nikita! You just *had* to dare Roi. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	10. CHAPTER NINE: THE SECOND VOTE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> It's time for the second vote of the night. Who will go into the final death challenge with Roi? Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**CHAPTER NINE: THE SECOND VOTE**

*****

Returning to the lounge, the group sat down on the couch while Calliope went behind the table to retrieve the cards, and Mortimer stood nearby, holding the Serpent's head under one arm. They all looked at each other, wondering who was going to go into the elimination with Roi.

“I say we split up again and just discuss among ourselves,” Joey suggested, although he already knew who he and Dawn were going to vote for… _again._ He gestured to Dawn, Nikita, Matt, and Colleen, and they went to the back of the room to talk quietly.

“How quickly into your challenge did she get bit?" Matt asked quietly, referring to Teala since he’d been surprised to see her in the lounge with Roi earlier.

“ _Very_ early,” Joey and Nikita said together.

Matt was surprised to hear this. "Really?"

"Yes,” said Dawn, rubbing her jaw, which wasn’t as sore, but she knew that she probably had a bruise forming. “I tried to stop the Snake Woman, and got backhanded for my trouble.”

“I was wondering about that bruise,” Colleen remarked, having noticed the developing bruise on the brunette’s jaw. “You lost a fight?”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Wasn’t really a fight, but yeah, I lost.” _‘Just don’t read too deeply into that, Colleen, please.’_

*****

On the other side of the lounge, Manny was talking with Curtis, Esther, Safiya, Ro, and Roi. “How were your guys' dynamics?”

“Everybody found stuff,” Ro answered, and both Curtis and Esther confirmed, that their dynamics on Team Cure had been _really_ good.

“I felt the same exact way,” Manny agreed, but hearing this made it harder for who he could choose to vote for this time around, having voted for Roi last time. “When Teala got grabbed…which sucks…but…” _‘Why does this have to be_ so _hard?’_ he wondered as they kept discussing. _‘Should I pick Teala? She_ did _get bitten by the Snake Woman really fast, and then there’s Dawn. No, despite getting knocked out, she was_ really _helpful with the search for the words. Hmm…’_

*****

The discussions of who to vote for had gone on for several minutes before Nikita _finally_ got fed up. She knew _exactly_ who she was going to vote for, since it was obvious to her. “I'm kinda over this, like, talking in two corners," she remarked to her group, and then, she stood up getting everyone's attention. "Can I say something? I really felt as though the Snake Queen herself chose the two weakest. Can we just start voting and let the cards decide?”

They all stared at her, surprised by her latest outburst, and Teala realized that Nikita was _definitely_ going to vote for her. _‘She probably voted for me last time, too,’_ she thought unhappily.

“Well, Teala, do you have anything to defend yourself?” Joey asked the Super Spy, privately hoping that she would defend herself and prove that she wasn’t the weakest one there.

Teala flushed for being put on the spot. “I didn't really have a chance to discover much," she admitted, "but I think…I think I pulled my weight somewhat.” She looked around at the group, but she could tell that many of them weren’t impressed and that Dawn was looking disappointed. _‘She risked her life for me, but even she thinks that I’m a weak link.’_

*****

Sitting back down on the couch, the group all looked over at Calliope, who’d set up the cards and had been waving her hands over them for the last few minutes, except for the cards for Roi. Instead, she held a single card for the Daredevil and showed it to them.

“The first person to be into the challenge is the Daredevil," she announced, showing Roi's card to the group, and then she put it aside. "Understood?” And Roi held up his hand to show that he understood. “Which leaves only one slot.”

Nikita looked over at Mortimer. “Mortimer, how do you feel about all this?” she inquired.

Mortimer shrugged and chuckled. “I mean, the voting's stuff's _her_ idea.”

“Calliope,” said Matt, hoping to avoid the voting altogether, “we don’t have to keep doing this.”

“It must be done,” Calliope said firmly, and she gestured to Roi. “You may go first.”

Sighing, Roi stood up and went to the table, looking at the cards, plus the space where his cards should’ve been, but _no_ , he just _had_ to accept that stupid dare and take the brick out. He chose one of Teala’s cards, handing it to the gypsy, and then he went back to sit down with his friends, wishing that they all were somewhere, _anywhere_ , else right now.

Teala voted next, and then Safiya was up to vote. She didn’t want to vote for anyone, but she knew that she had to, and she made her choice, which Calliope took from her hand: The Super Spy. _‘Sorry, sweetie,’_ she thought, going back to the couch. _‘But you really haven’t been pulling your weight.’_

*****

Colleen went next to vote, and then it was Joey’s turn. He went up to the table and picked up the Super Spy card, surprised that it was the last one. _‘Uh oh,’_ he thought, handing it to Calliope. _‘There’s an_ actual _card limit. That’s never happen before.’_ He turned back to his friends. “Guys,” he said, and they all looked at him, “there's only a certain amount of cards per person.”

“So we might not get to vote for our first choice, is what you're saying?” Matt asked, shifting in his seat.

"Exactly," Joey replied, sitting back down.

Hoping that Joey was wrong, Dawn got up to take her turn, and when she reached the table, her heart sank when she saw that the Super Spy cards were all gone. _‘Crap!’_ she thought, staring at the cards. _‘Joey was right._ Now _who do I choose?’_ She hadn’t had a problem earlier with the first vote, but this time, she wasn’t as sure since Teala’s cards were gone, and she knew from experience that the voting was going to get tougher as the night went on.

Dawn stared at the cards and hesitantly started reaching for one of the Detective’s cards, when she felt the Light stir inside, almost as if it was telling her _not_ to choose Matt. She paused, chose from a different card stack, and Calliope took the card to add to the slowly growing pile of cards. _‘The Light wants Matt to stay in the game,’_ she thought, sitting back down next to Joey. _‘But why? Could he be someone who needs to survive the night with Joey and I?’_

*****

Reaching the table to take her turn, Nikita was disappointed to see that all of the Super Spy cards were indeed gone. _‘Dammit,’_ she thought, wondering who she was going to vote for, and she finally chose Ro, but not because of her short stature, but she knew that the Jet Setter was really one tough cookie who could probably beat Roi in the challenge.

*****

Manny went up to the table, disappointed that all of the Teala cards were gone, and there was _no way_ he was going to vote for Nikita since she was one of his best friends. _‘I could pick Dawn,’_ he thought, considering the cards that had the Actress written on them. _‘Or even Joey, especially since they’re the ones who tricked us all into coming here.’_ He finally settled on Colleen since he really hadn’t done much with her yet.

Matt went next and he took a minute to make a choice before sitting back down so that Curtis and Esther, could take their turns. _‘I don’t like this voting,’_ he thought, _‘but we_ really _don’t need any troublemakers either.’_

*****

Ro was the last to vote this time, and she felt like she was going to shake herself apart when she reached the table to make her choice. She _really_ didn’t want to vote for any of her friends, but she knew that she had to, and she chose one of the Troublemaker cards before sitting back down between Matt and Manny. _‘I hate this. I_ really _hate this.’_

*****

“I will now shuffle,” Calliope announced, holding the chosen cards in her hands, and she began shuffling them while the group watched with bated breath, wondering who wold be chosen to go into the elimination with Roi. “Are you ready?” she asked when she was done shuffling the cards.

Joey nodded. “Yes.”

“The person going into the challenge with the Daredevil is…” Calliope began, selecting one of the cards and looked at it, before she showed it to the group, surprising many of them when they saw that it had Nikita’s face on it. “The Troublemaker.”

“Nikita,” Joey whispered, shocked that someone had voted her into the elimination.

“Oh my gosh,” Dawn gasped, covering her mouth with her hand as she glanced at Nikita, who was looking livid. _‘Even I wasn’t stupid enough to choose her! This is bad, this is_ very _bad!’_

Manny felt his heart dropped, shocked that his best friend was going into an elimination, and he was wondering who would _dare_ do this to her. _‘Whoever voted for her, they’re going to_ pay _.’_

Nikita whispered into Manny’s ear, “I’ll be back.” She then stood up, swinging her jacket over her shoulder, and she walked over to Mortimer and Calliope with Roi following her, unaware that he was silently gloating over the fact that she’d been voted for.

Teala was also relieved that she’d avoided the elimination this time. “Good luck,” she called out as they left through the door. _‘I_ really _hope Guava comes back instead of Nikita,’_ she thought, having voted for the Troublemaker. _‘Please come back, Guava._ Please _come back.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roi vs Nikita is up next time. Who will win? Who will die? Stay tune at the same ETN time and the same ETN channel. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	11. CHAPTER TEN: RACE FOR THE HEART

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night!
> 
> The votes have been casted and it's time for the final death challenge. Who will come back alive? Onward!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from _Escape the Night_. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

**CHAPTER TEN: RACE FOR THE HEART**

*****

Roi and Nikita followed Mortimer and Calliope to the Snake Woman’s lair, where they could see through an archway, shaped like the mouth of a giant green cobra, two long angular red trenches, and the Snake Woman herself with a large glass case behind her that held a giant red heart. Clearly, that was the serpent's heart that they needed in order to finish cleansing the second artifact.

Mortimer picked up a pair of white jumpsuits that were on hangers, and he handed them to Nikita and Roi. “Put these on,” he instructed. “There’s one for each of you.”

Nikita made a face at the jumpsuit as she took off her jacket, handing it to Calliope to hold, and she, reluctantly put it on while Roi was quick to just yank his jumpsuit over his entire outfit, jacket included. “Oh…” she moaned. “Please don't tell any others that I was wearing anything looking like this.” She then glowered around her. “If I die,” she vowed, “I’m gonna haunt _all_ of you!” She then rolled her eyes when Roi snickered at her vow.

Calliope handed them a note once they had the jumpsuits on and a pair of black gloves on their hands. “Here’s the rules of the challenge.”

Roi and Nikita took the note and read it together. “‘Search the intestines of the great serpent to find the missing pieces of your mosaic. A completed image is at the end of the snake to guide you. The first to do so will be able to retrieve the heart, and the other will be poisoned by the Snake Woman’.”

“Good luck,” Calliope whispered.

“I _hate_ snakes,” Nikita moaned as they gave the note back and they faced the archway, and even Roi wasn’t looking forward to the challenge, especially if it meant getting bitten by the Snake Woman again.

“Are you guys ready?” Calliope asked, and they both nodded nervously. “Go!”

Nikita and Roi both ran into the Snake Woman’s lair, heading for the two trenches, where they started digging through them, finding them both crammed with all kinds of snakes innards, and Nikita thought she was going to throw up with how _disgusting_ it was. Also, because it was freezing, they both could feel their hands starting to go numb despite the rubber gloves.

“Omigod!” Nikita shrieked. “This is _so_ gross! Omigod!”

“I don’t know what it’s supposed to look like!” Roi complained, having troubles feeling the difference between the innards and the mosaic pieces.

*****

Five minutes into the challenge, Nikita still hadn’t found any pieces, but she did run over to the map to look at it for hints of what she was suppose to be finding while Roi hadn’t even tried that. He was still digging through the trench for the pieces, even though he’d found two blue pieces, and he had only put them on the table instead of on the mosaic behind him.

Nikita ignored his grumblings, ran back to her trench, digging through it again, now with an idea of what to look for. “Oh, God,” she gasped, _finally_ finding her first piece. “This is _so_ slimy," she complained, carrying it to the mosaic. "What kind of substance _is_ this?" She put the piece in its place. "Holy fix the wheel.” She counted the remaining empty spaces, finding that there was four, and she ran back to search for the rest. _‘One down, four to go!’_

*****

Having found another piece, Roi was trying to make sense of the map while Nikita, having found her second piece, ran to put it on the mosaic.

“Ok, ok,” she was telling herself as she put the piece in its’ proper spot and ran back to find more. “Nikita, you're the Troublemaker. Don't back down.”

Roi did his best to ignore her, examining the map, but it wasn’t easy with her now saying “I swear, if I get out of this, I'm going to _hurt_ someone!” And it was then that it made sense to him. “Oh! Of course!” Grabbing the three pieces, he ran to his mosaic and put them in the correct spots, just as Nikita inserted her third piece.

_‘Ok, I’m a little bit behind,’_ he thought, running back to the trench to resume searching, _‘but I can_ still _catch up!’_

*****

Another five minutes went by with Nikita and Roi frantically searching for the pieces, splashing themselves as they dug through the innards: so far, Roi had managed to find his fourth piece at the same time that _also_ Nikita had found her fourth piece, adding them to the mosaic, and neither of them were planning on become snake food for the waiting Snake Woman.

*****

More minutes ticked by and Nikita nearly missed her fifth and final piece, but she managed to find it, and gripped it in her freezing hands. _‘Yes!’_ she thought, running to the map to check to see where it needed to go. “Down on the bottom,” she muttered, racing to the mosaic. “Down on the bottom. Down on the bottom.”

She nearly tripped on the jumpsuit in her eagerness to reach the mosaic, where she put the final piece on the bottom, and jumped backwards when the whole thing suddenly lit up like fireworks. _‘Yes!’_ she thought and turned to see the Snake Woman’s hands glow blue before she started heading toward Roi, who wasn’t even paying attention. _‘Oh God…Roi!’_

*****

Roi was _so_ focused on finding the remaining piece that he wasn’t aware of the Snake Woman advancing toward him until he heard her soft hissing. Looking up, he yelped when he saw her heading directly toward him, realizing that Nikita had won the challenge, and he bolted, trying to escape from the Snake Woman’s clutches. “No! Hey! Chill!” Unfortunately, he ran into the trench, and this gave the Snake Woman the chance to grab him.

Roi screamed in terror as she threw him to the ground, winding him, and then pinned him with her knee. “No!” he screamed, struggling as Nikita ran past to retrieve the heart from the open case. “No!” And he gasped in pain when she bit him in the same place on the shoulder, and then she bit him again, this time in the neck, and everything went silent and black instantly.

*****

Reaching the case, Nikita reached in and pulled the giant serpent's heart out. “My God, this is disgusting!” she cried, clutching it in her arms as she ran passed both the Snake Woman and the motionless Roi lying on the ground.

“Sorry. Bye. Love you!” she called out, blowing him a kiss although it was clear that he was already dead. _‘I really_ am _sorry, Roi. But I hate losing more then I hate snakes!’_

*****

Nikita bolted through the archway while the Snake Woman hissed in victory behind her, and she reached Calliope and Mortimer, who was holding the Serpent's head out for her. “Mortimer,” she gasped, clutching the heart. “What do I do?”

“Squeeze the heart over the head,” Mortimer instructed.

Nodding, Nikita squeezed the heart as hard as she could, dark red blood oozing out of it, and most of it was falling onto the artifact, but she still groaned in disgust since it was also getting over the jumpsuit, too. Seconds later, the artifact glowed gold, and she saw the Snake Woman shake and crumbled into black dust that blew away.

She’d done it! The second artifact was cleansed!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP, Roi. I wanted Roi to have a fighting chance, so I made the race between Nikita and Roi closer then it actually was in the episode itself. Bye for now! R&R everyone!

**Author's Note:**

> I actually feel sorry for Cindy. Yes, it was wrong of her to have a relationship with Bahar's husband, but to get played by the Carnival Master? Oof. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


End file.
